Polishing device, end face polishing apparatus having polishing device, and end face polishing method

ABSTRACT

An end face polishing apparatus in which whereas a jig board mounted with a rod-like member is supported by an apparatus main body by a supporting mechanism, a polishing board mounted with a polishing member for polishing the rod-like member is supported by the apparatus main body rotatably and pivotably by a drive mechanism for polishing the rod-like member mounted to the jig board by the supporting mechanism by pressing the rod-like member to the rotating and pivoting polishing board, wherein the polishing member is mounted to the polishing board attachably thereto and detachably therefrom, further comprising an automatic interchanging device for interchanging the polishing member which is mounted to the polishing board and which has been used with the polishing member which is stored at a predetermined position and which is to be used by which the operational performance is promoted.

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/360,774, filed on Jul. 26, 1999, which is hereby incorporated byreference, and priority thereto for common subject matter is herebyclaimed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an end face polishing apparatus forpolishing an end face of a rod-like member such as a fiber for opticalcommunication.

2. Description of the Related art

A fiber for optical communication is used by fixedly adhering the fiberinto a center hole of a ferrule which is a main member of a connectorand polishing an end face of the ferrule and an end face of the fibersimultaneously to be flat and smooth to thereby finish them in mirrorfaces. When polished faces of the ferrule and the fiber which have beenpolished to finish are not faces orthogonal to a center axis of theferrule or there causes a defect on the polished faces, in an opticalconnector where the ferrules are oppositedly connected, an accuracy inpositions thereof opposed to each other is deteriorated and loss isenlarged. Accordingly, the polished face of the ferrule including theoptical fiber needs to polish to finish in high accuracy.

There is disclosed a conventional optical fiber end face polishingapparatus in, for example, Japanese unexamined Patent No. 26456/1991.The optical fiber end face polishing apparatus disclosed in thepublication, is provided with an eccentric board rotating on aconcentric circle of a rotating circular board, the eccentric board isprovided with planetary gears for transmitting rotation of a motor forrevolution, these gears are coupled to a polishing board to therebyrotate and revolve the polishing board and in the meantime, end faces ofa number of optical fibers held by a jig board are pressed to apolishing member fixed to the polishing board to thereby polish them.

Further, in respect of a ferrule, polishing operation of an end facethereof is carried out in a state of being fixed to the jig board andpolishing powder or polishing solution (hereinafter, simply referred toas polishing powder) is adhered to a lower face and a side face of thejig board, an end portion of the ferrule and so on. In this case,conventionally, the jig board is turned upside down the ferrule fixedlyheld at the jig board, while spraying water supplied from a tap of waterto predetermined portions, an operator rubs it by holding a cleaningbrush or by using a cleaner whereby the end face of the ferrule and thejig board is cleaned.

As described above, according to the conventional optical fiber end facepolishing apparatus, the polishing is carried out by pressing the endfaces of a number of optical fibers held by the jig board to thepolishing member fixed to the rotating and revolving polishing board. Inthis case, by a long period of use, the polishing member may clog andbecome unusable to necessitate interchange thereof or interchange with apolishing member having different roughness may be needed. However,according to the conventional polishing member, a polishing sheet ismounted on the polishing board via an elastic sheet and accordingly,operation of interchanging the polishing member is necessarily dependenton manual labor and there poses a problem in which operationalefficiency is not excellent.

Further, polishing and cleaning of the ferrule is carried out by manualoperation of the operator by using the above-described respectivelyindependent polisher, cleaner and the like. Accordingly, there poses aproblem in which mass production performance is deteriorated and thecost is high. Further, when the operator carries out the polishingoperation, a more or less variation is caused in respective operation,for example, in setting urging force exerted on the ferrule in polishingoperation or the like and there poses a problem in which the quality isnot stabilized.

In view of such a situation, it is an object of the invention to providean end face polishing apparatus achieving promotion of operationalperformance by automatically interchanging polishing members forpolishing an end face of a ferrule, further, to provide an end facepolishing and cleaning apparatus for automatically carrying outpolishing and cleaning operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an endface polishing apparatus characterized in an end face polishingapparatus in which whereas a jig board mounted with a rod-like member issupported by an apparatus main body by a supporting mechanism, apolishing board mounted with a polishing member for polishing therod-like member is supported by the apparatus main body rotatably andpivotably by a drive mechanism for polishing the rod-like member mountedto the jig board by the supporting mechanism by pressing the rod-likemember to the rotating and pivoting polishing board, wherein thepolishing member is mounted to the polishing board attachably theretoand detachably therefrom, further comprising an automatic interchangingdevice for interchanging the polishing member which is mounted to thepolishing board and which has been used with the polishing member whichis stored at a predetermined position and which is to be used.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided the endface polishing apparatus according to the first aspect, characterized inthat the automatic interchanging device comprises a moving membersupported horizontally movably at a side of the polishing board, anelevating member elevatably supported by the moving member, a supportingarm in which whereas a base end portion thereof is fixed to theelevating member, a front end portion thereof is extended to above thepolishing board and a supporting member attached to the front endportion of the supporting arm and capable of supporting the polishingmember from below.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided the endface polishing apparatus according to the second aspect, characterizedin that whereas a flange portion is provided at an outer peripheralportion of the polishing member, the supporting member is engaged withthe polishing member in a horizontal direction and capable of supportingthe flange portion from below.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided the endface polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through thethird aspects, characterized in that a number of the polishing memberswhich are to be used are laminated and mounted at a predeterminedposition.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided the endface polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through thefourth aspects, characterized in that a number of the polishing memberswhich are to be used are laminated and mounted at the predeterminedposition.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided the endface polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through thefifth aspects, further comprising a plurality of recovering boxes forrecovering the polishing members which have been used in accordance withkinds thereof.

According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided theend face polishing apparatus according to any one of the first throughthe sixth aspects, characterized in that the supporting mechanismcomprises a jig board supporting arm in which whereas a front endportion thereof holds the jig board, a base end portion thereof issupported movably in the up and down direction in a state in which thebase end portion is extended to a side thereof and held substantiallyhorizontally and elevating means for supporting the base end portion ofthe jig board supporting arm elevatably in the up and down direction andlowering the jig board supporting arm such that the rod-like memberattached to the jig board is pressed to the polishing member by apredetermined pressure.

According to an eighth aspect of the invention, there is provided an endface polishing and cleaning apparatus characterized in that in the endface polishing apparatus according to the seventh aspect, furthercomprising a cleaner for cleaning a lower face of the jig board and therod-like member attached to the jig board at a side of the polishingboard, wherein the supporting mechanism comprises jig board moving meansfor reciprocally moving the jig board from the polishing board to thecleaner by moving the jig board supporting arm in the horizontaldirection along with the elevating means.

According to a ninth aspect of the invention, there is provided the endface polishing apparatus according to the eighth aspect, characterizedin that the cleaner comprises a cleaning brush for cleaning an endportion of the rod-like member and a lower face portion of the jig boardby being rotationally moved in a state in which the cleaning brush isbrought into contact with the lower face of the jig board.

According to a tenth aspect of the invention, there is provided the endface polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through theninth aspects, characterized in that a drive mechanism of the polishingboard is revolved while being rotated in a state in which the jig boardis mounted.

According to an eleventh aspect of the invention, there is provided theend face polishing apparatus according to the tenth aspect,characterized in that the drive mechanism of the polishing boardcomprises stop position controlling means for stopping the polishingboard at a predetermined position.

According to the invention, in exchanging the polishing members, theautomatic interchanging device automatically interchanges the polishingmember mounted to the polishing board with the polishing member storedat the predetermined position and promotion of operational performanceis achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plane view of an end face polishing apparatus according toan embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a front view of the end face polishing apparatus,

FIG. 3 is a side view of the end face polishing apparatus,

FIG. 4 is an outline view of a supporting mechanism of a jig board,

FIG. 5 is a plane view of the jig board,

FIG. 6 is an outline view representing a state of engaging thesupporting mechanism and the jig board,

FIG. 7 is a sectional view representing a state of engaging thesupporting mechanism and the jig board,

FIG. 8 is an outline view of a supporting mechanism portion,

FIG. 9 is a plane view of an automatic interchanging device of apolishing member,

FIG. 10 is an outline view representing a drive unit of the automaticinterchanging device of the polishing member,

FIG. 11 is an outline view of a supporting arm of the polishing member,and

FIG. 12 is an outline view representing a state of engaging thepolishing member by the supporting member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A detailed explanation will be given of embodiments of the invention inreference to drawings as follows.

FIG. 1 shows a plane view of an end face polishing apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 shows a front view of the endface polishing apparatus, FIG. 3 shows a side view of the end facepolishing apparatus, FIG. 4 shows an outline view of a supportingmechanism of a jig board, FIG. 5 shows a plane view of the jig board,FIG. 6 shows an outline view representing a state of engaging thesupporting mechanism and the jig board, FIG. 7 shows a sectional viewrepresenting the state of engaging the supporting mechanism and the jigboard, FIG. 8 shows an outline view of the supporting mechanism, FIG. 9shows a plane view of an automatic interchanging device of the polishingmember, FIG. 10 shows an outline view representing a drive unit of theautomatic interchanging device of the polishing member, FIG. 11 shows anoutline view of a supporting arm of the polishing member and FIG. 12shows an outline view representing a state of engaging the polishingmember by a supporting member.

According to the end face polishing apparatus of the embodiment, asshown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, an apparatus main body 11 is installedwith a polisher 12, a cleaner 13, a jig board 14 for fixing a pluralityof ferrules as rod-like members, a supporting device 15 for movablysupporting the jig board 14, an automatic exchanging or interchangingdevice 16 for interchanging polishing members of the polisher 12 and aholding device or containing magazine 17 for containing the polishingmembers to be interchanged.

The polisher 12 carries out polishing of a front end of a ferrule byrotating a polishing board 21 arranged on the apparatus main body 11while revolving it. The polishing board 21 can carry out revolvingmovement by a predetermined eccentric amount by driving a motor forrevolution, not illustrated, and the polishing board 21 can be rotatedby driving a motor for rotation, not illustrated. Further, according tothe embodiment, there is installed stop position controlling means, notillustrated, for controlling such that a position of stopping therevolution motor is disposed always at a constant position.

As shown in FIG. 12, an upper portion of the polishing board 21 isintegrally and rotatably fitted with a polishing member 22 in a shape ofa circular board. The polishing member 22 comprises a fitting portion 23in a ring-like shape and a flange portion 24 formed at an upper portionof the fitting portion 23 and the upper portion is attached with apolishing film 26 via an elastic member 25 in a circular shape. Further,the fitting portion 23 and the elastic member 25 are molded by a plasticand the elastic member 25 adhered to the flange portion 24.

Further, the elastic member 25 is a rubber sheet comprising a materialof, for example, CR, silicone, urethane, NBR, natural rubber, SBR or thelike and having a thickness of, for example, about 2 mm and is fixedlyattached to the flange portion of the frame member 1 by an adhesiveagent or the like. A surface at least on an outer side of the elasticmember 25 fixedly attached to the frame member 1 is finished into amirror face having a surface roughness of, for example, Ra 1.6 μm orsmaller.

Further, the polishing film 26 is mounted on the elastic member 25. Thepolishing film 26 is only mounted on the elastic member 25 withoutinterposing an adhesive agent or the like between the polishing film 26and the elastic member 25 and no adhesive agent or the like is usedtherebetween. However, the surface of the elastic member 2 is finishedinto a mirror face and accordingly, the polishing film 26 issufficiently adhered onto the surface of the elastic member 25.

Further, although according to the embodiment, the fitting portion 23 aswell as the flange portion 24 and the elastic member 25 are constitutedas separate members, these may be integrally molded by an elastic memberof rubber or the like.

Such a polishing member 22 is mounted to an upper portion of a polishingboard 21 of an end face polishing apparatus. A ferrule is brought intocontact with the polishing film 26 and the polishing board 21 is rotatedto thereby polish a front end face of the ferrule. A-detaileddescription thereof will be given later.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the cleaner 13 is installedcontiguous to the polisher 12 on the apparatus main body 11 and canclean polishing powder attached to an end face of the ferrule and thejig board 14 by rotating and revolving three of cleaning brushes 27 by adrive motor, not illustrated.

Further, the jig board 14 can be fixed with a plurality of the ferrulesand is made movable along a direction of installing the polisher 12 andthe cleaner 13 in parallel with each other by the supporting device 15.That is, a movement rail 31 is fixed along the direction of installingthe polisher 12 and the cleaner 13 in parallel with each other above theapparatus main body 11, a moving frame 32 is supported movably by themovement rail 31 and an elevating frame 33 is elevatably supported bythe movement frame 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4 through FIG. 6, the moving frame 32 is fixedwith a pair of vertical guides 34, a base end portion of a supportingelement or arm 35 is elevatably supported by the vertical guides 34 andthe supporting arm 35 is penetrated movably in the up and down directionbetween upper and lower flange-portions 36 a and 36 b integrally formedwith a lower end portion of the elevating frame 33. Further, thesupporting arm 35 is supported to be urged downwardly by two compressionsprings 37 relative to the elevating frame 33 and an intermediarybetween the two compression springs 37 is mounted with a load cell 38for detecting their load. Further, the elevating frame 33 is attachedwith a guide 39 in a cylindrical shape for supporting the compressionsprings 37 and the load cell 38.

Meanwhile, a front end portion of the supporting arm 35 is fixed with aholding block 40 for holding the jig board 14 and the holding block 40is integrally formed with a positioning portion 41 and attached with aholding ball 43 supported to be urged by a compression spring 42.

The jig board 14 is formed in an octagonal shape in plane view,installed with attachment pieces 45 opposed to a number of V grooves 44formed at an outer peripheral portion thereof and the attachment pieces45 are fixed to the jig board 14 by fixing screws 46 while interposingferrules W between the V grooves 44 and the attachment pieces 45 bywhich the ferrules can be interposed by the V grooves 44 and theattachment pieces 45. Further, a boss portion 47 is formed at a centralportion of an upper face of the jig board 14 and a central portionthereof is formed with an opening portion 48 into which the holdingblock 40 can be inserted from a side direction. Further, engagingflanges 49 are formed integrally with both sides of an upper portion ofthe opening portion 48 and a positioning hole 50 is formed at a centralportion thereof.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, by inserting the holding block 40 intothe opening portion 48 of the boss portion 47 and engaging the holdingball 43 supported to be urged by the compression spring 42 with thepositioning hole 50, positioning of the jig board 14 relative to thesupporting arm 35 is carried out and the positioning portions 41 areengaged with the engaging flanges 49 by which the supporting arm 35 canpivotably hold the jig board 14.

By moving the moving frame 32 along the movement rail 31, the jig board14 held by the supporting arm 35 can be moved between the polisher 12and the cleaner 13 and by lowering the elevating frame 33 at therespective positions, polishing operation and cleaning operation of theheld ferrules W can be carried out.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the elevating frame 33 is integrallyinstalled with a nut 81 which is in mesh with a screw spindle 82.Further, a vertical shaft 83 installed integrally with an upper portionof the screw spindle 82 is connected to a pressurizing motor 85 via atransmission member 84 of a rubber belt or the like.

Therefore, by lowering the elevating frame 33 by rotating the verticalshaft 83 in one direction and pressing the ferrules W to an upper faceof the polishing member 22 (polishing film 26) of the rotating andrevolving polishing board 21, polishing of the end faces of the ferrulesW is carried out. Further, by pressing the ferrules W to the respectiverotating and revolving cleaning brushes 27, cleaning of the end faces ofthe ferrules W and the jig board 14 is carried out.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, the automatic interchangingdevice 16 can automatically interchange the polishing member 22 mountedto the polisher 12 with a polishing member to be used successively andcontained in the containing magazine 17. The containing magazine 17 isinstalled contiguous to the polisher 12. A laminating portion 51laminated with a number of polishing members in an order of a useschedule is supported movably in the side direction relative to the mainbody and an elevating base 54 can be elevated by rotating a screw shaft53 by driving a drive motor 52. Further, the elevating base 54 iselevated by driving the drive motor 52 in accordance with a detectionsensor 55 installed at an upper portion thereof and a polishing memberat an uppermost position laminated to the laminating portion 51 isdisposed always at the same height.

Further, there are installed three holding devices or collecting cases56 a, 56 b and 56 c for collecting the polishing members 22 removed fromthe polisher 12 in accordance with kinds thereof contiguous to thecontaining magazine 17. In this case, the collecting cases 56 a, 56 band 56 c are for facilitating to reuse the polishing members to bereused by recovering them in accordance with, for example, roughness ofmesh. Further, the polishing members not to be reused may be recoveredby a prescribed collecting case regardless of roughness of mesh.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 9 through FIG. 11, an upper portion of theapparatus main body 11 is fixed with a horizontal rail 61 in parallelwith a direction of installing the polisher 12, the containing magazine17 and the collecting cases 56 a, 56 b and 56 c, a moving member 62 ismovably supported by the horizontal rail 61, the moving member 62 isfixed with a vertical rail 63 and an elevating member 64 is elevatablysupported by the vertical rail 63. Further, the moving member 62 ismounted with an elevating motor 65 and an eccentric cam shaft 67 of arotating member 66 rotated by the elevating motor 65 is engaged with theelevating member 64.

Further, the elevating member 64 is fixed with a base end portion of asupporting arm 69 extended to the side of the polisher 12 via anattachment bracket 68. Meanwhile, a side of a front end portion of thesupporting arm 69 is bent downwardly. At the front end portion asupporting member 70 formed in a shape of a semicircular arc in planeview is attached by attaching bolts 71 and supported by a supporting rod72. Further, a detection sensor 73 is mounted to the front end portionof the supporting arm 69.

The supporting member 70 can transport the polishing member 22 mountedto the polishing board 21 of the polisher 12 by supporting it from belowto the collecting cases 56 a, 56 b and 56 c and can transport thepolishing member disposed at the uppermost portion of the containingmagazine 17 by supporting it from below to the polishing board 21. Thatis, as shown in FIG. 12, according to the supporting member 70, an innerdiameter portion 70 a thereof is attachable and detachable to and fromthe engaging portion 23 of the polishing member 22 and by elevating thesupporting member 70 in a state in which the inner diameter portion 70 ais engaged with the engaging portion 23, an upper face portion 70 bthereof is brought into contact with the flange portion 24 and thepolishing member 22 can be lifted.

Further, an upper face of the apparatus main body 11 is installed withan operation panel 80 for operating the polisher 12, the cleaner 13, thejig board 14 as well as the supporting device 15, the automaticinterchanging device 16 and so on of the end face polishing apparatus.

Here, an explanation will be given of the operation of polishing andcleaning the end portion of the ferrule and operation of interchangingthe polishing members by using the end face polishing apparatusaccording to the invention constituted as described above.

According to the end face polishing apparatus of the embodiment, asshown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, respective operations other thanattachment and detachment of the ferrule W to and from the jig board 14and attachment and detachment of the jig board 14 to and from thesupporting device 15 are all carried out by the operation panel 80.Therefore, when the ferrules W and the jig board 14 are attached andinputting operation to the operational panel 80 is carried out by theoperator, firstly, the jig board 14 is horizontally moved by thesupporting device 15 and moved to the central axis of the polishingboard 21 on the polisher 12, successively the jig board 14 is lowered toa predetermined position. The predetermined position is a position forbringing the end face of the ferrule into contact with the polishingmember 22 (polishing film 26) mounted on the polishing board 21 bypredetermined load. Thereafter, by operating the polisher 12 androtating the polishing member 22 along with the polishing board 21 asdescribed above, the end face of the ferrule is polished to apredetermined shape.

When polishing of the end face of the ferrule has been finished, the jigboard 14 is moved to above the cleaner 13 by the supporting device 15and the jig board 14 is lowered again to a predetermined position. Thepredetermined position is a position of bringing the end face of theferrule into contact with the cleaning brushes 27 of the cleaner 13 bypredetermined load. Further, when the ferrule is arranged at thepredetermined position, by operating the cleaner 13 and cleaning the endface of the ferrule and the jig board 14 as described above, a series ofoperations are completed.

The operation of polishing and cleaning the end face of the ferrule cancontinuously be carried out only by automatically moving the jig board14 in a shape of inverse U by repeating horizontal movement and verticalmovement thereof in this way.

Further, when the polishing operation needs to carry out in severalstages, the polishing members 22 are interchanged by the automaticinterchanging device 16 and the same operation is repeated by anecessary number of times.

In this case, firstly, the moving member 62 is moved along thehorizontal rail 61 to thereby dispose the supporting member 70 at anupper portion of a side portion of the polishing member 22 of thepolisher 12, successively, the elevating member 64 is lowered along thevertical rail 63 by which as shown in FIG. 12, the supporting member 70is disposed at a side of the polishing member 22. Further, by moving themoving member 62 horizontally under the state and moving the supportingmember 70 to the side of the polishing member 22, the inner diameterportion 70 a is engaged with the engaging portion 23 of the polishingmember 22 from a side direction, successively, the elevating member 64is lifted by which the tipper face portion 70 b is brought into contactwith the flange portion 24 and draws and lifts the polishing member 22from the polishing board 21.

When the supporting member 70 supports the polishing member 22, themoving member 62 is horizontally moved to thereby transport thepolishing member 22 supported by the supporting member 70 to thecollecting cases 56 a, 56 b and 56 c. At this occasion, the supportingmember 70 drops the polishing member 22 into a predetermined one of thecollecting cases 56 a, 56 b and 56 c.

When the polishing member 22 mounted to the polishing board 21 isremoved in this way, the moving member 62 is horizontally moved to thecontaining magazine 17 along the horizontal rail 61 and by operationsimilar to the above-described, the supporting member 70 supports thepolishing member disposed at the uppermost portion of the containingmagazine 17. Further, again, the moving member 62 is horizontally movedto the polisher 12, the polishing member supported by the supportingmember 70 is disposed to above the polishing board 21 of the polisher 12and the elevating member 64 is lowered along the vertical rail 63 bywhich the polishing member 22 supported by the supporting member 70 ismounted to the polishing board 21. Thereafter, the supporting member 70is horizontally moved, lifted and escaped.

In this way, according to the end face polishing apparatus of theembodiment, when the polishing member 22 mounted to the polishing board21 of the polisher 12 is interchanged by other: member, the automaticinterchanging device 16 draws the polishing member 22 of the polishingboard 21 and carries it to the collecting cases 56 a, 56 b and 56 c andin the meantime, other polishing member is transported from thecontaining magazine 17 to the polisher 12 and is mounted to thepolishing board 21 by which the polishing member can be interchangedautomatically.

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION

As has been explained in details in respect of the embodiment, accordingto the end face polishing apparatus of the invention, there is providedan end face polishing apparatus in which a jig board mounted with arod-like member is supported by an apparatus main body by a supportingmechanism, a polishing board mounted with a polishing member forpolishing the rod-like member is supported by the apparatus main bodyrotatably and pivotably by a drive mechanism for polishing the rod-likemember mounted to the jig board by the supporting mechanism by pressingthe rod-like member to the rotating and pivoting polishing board, andthe polishing member is mounted to the polishing board attachablythereto and detachably therefrom. The invention further comprises anautomatic interchanging device for interchanging the polishing memberwhich is mounted to the polishing board and which has been used with thepolishing member which is stored at a predetermined position and whichis to be used. Accordingly, when the polishing members are interchanged,the automatic interchanging device automatically interchanges thepolishing member mounted to the polishing board with the polishingmember stored at the predetermined position and promotion of operationalperformance can be achieved.

Further, according to the end face polishing apparatus of the invention,particularly, whereas the flange portion is provided at the outerperipheral portion of the polishing member, the supporting member isengaged with the polishing member in the horizontal direction to becapable of supporting the flange portion from below, in the meantime,the moving member is supported horizontally movably at the side of thepolishing board, the elevating member is elevatably supported by themoving member, the supporting arm the front end portion of which isextended to above the polishing board is fixed to the elevating member,the supporting member capable of supporting the polishing member frombelow is attached to the front end portion of the supporting arm andtherefore, interchanging of the polishing members can be carried outonly by simple movement in the up and down, and right and leftdirections.

Further, the polishing member is constituted by the fitting portionhaving the frame shape surrounding the upper portion of the polishingboard and the flange portion being integrally molded with the fittingportion, the elastic member fixedly attached to the flange portion ofthe frame member and the polishing film mounted on the upper face of theelastic member. Accordingly, when the polishing film is interchanged,the polishing film is interchanged together with the polishing memberand therefore, the polishing solution needs not to wipe off and theoperational efficiency can be promoted.

Further, the surface of the elastic member is finished into a mirrorface and accordingly, the polishing sheet can firmly be adhered onto theelastic member by only mounting the polishing sheet thereon withoutusing an adhesive agent or the like and the polishing film does notshift to drop during polishing and rotating operation. Further, thepolishing film can also be peeled off and can be interchanged with ease.

What is claimed is:
 1. An end face polishing apparatus comprising: a jigboard for supporting a plurality of ferrules each fixed to an end of arespective optical fiber; a polishing board; a polishing memberdetachably arranged on the polishing board and having a tubular fittingportion and a flange portion disposed at an end of the tubular fittingportion; an elastic member having a first main surface connected to theflange portion of the polishing member and a second main surface; apolishing film disposed on the second main surface of the elastic memberfor polishing end faces of the optical fibers and ferrules while theoptical fibers and ferrules are supported by the jig board; a firstholding device for holding a plurality of unused polishing members eachhaving a new polishing film preliminarily attached thereto; at least onesecond holding device for holding used polishing members which have beenremoved from the polishing board; and polishing member exchanging meansmounted for linear movement in horizontal and vertical directions forexchanging a used polishing member arranged on the polishing board withan unused polishing member by taking the used polishing member from thepolishing board and conveying the used polishing member to the secondholding device and by taking an unused polishing member from the firstholding device and placing the unused polishing member on the polishingboard.
 2. An end face polishing apparatus according to claim 1; whereinthe flange portion of the polishing member is disposed at an outerperipheral portion of the lower surface thereof so that the supportmember engages the flange portion of the polishing member duringinterchange of the polishing members.
 3. A polishing device comprising:a polishing member for detachable connection to a polishing board of apolishing apparatus and comprised of a body having a tubular fittingportion and a flange portion disposed at an end of the tubular fittingportion; an elastic member having a first main surface connected to theflange portion of the polishing member and a second main surface; and apolishing film disposed on the second main surface of the elasticmember.
 4. A polishing device according to claim 3; wherein the tubularfitting portion of the polishing member is generally ring-shaped.
 5. Apolishing device according to claim 4; wherein the elastic member isgenerally circular-shaped.
 6. A polishing device according to claim 3;wherein the elastic member comprises a sheet of rubber material.
 7. Apolishing device according to claim 6; wherein the polishing film isadhered to the sheet of rubber material.
 8. A polishing device accordingto claim 3; wherein the polishing film is adhered to the elastic member.9. An end face polishing method, comprising the steps of: providing anend face polishing apparatus having a rotatably supported polishingboard and a jig board supporting a plurality of ferrules each fixed toan end of a respective optical fiber; providing a polishing devicecomprised of a polishing member having a tubular fitting portion and aflange portion disposed at end of the tubular fitting portion, anelastic member connected to the flange portion of the polishing member,and a polishing film disposed on the elastic member; connecting thepolishing device to the polishing board by seizing a lower surface ofthe tubular fitting portion of the polishing member and disposing thepolishing device on the polishing board; moving the jig board to bringend faces of the optical fibers and ferrules into pressure contact withthe polishing film of the polishing device; and rotating the polishingboard to polish the end faces of the optical fibers and ferrules.
 10. Amethod according to claim 9; wherein the connecting step compriseslinearly moving the polishing device in horizontal and verticaldirections to dispose the polishing device on the polishing board.